These schools were chosen as they had the largest student enrolment, the CPE said.

The MOE's higher education policy division awarded a tender worth $109,000 to research firm Forbes Research in October last year, to carry out an 18-week-long study on the 13,000 students who graduated from these schools in 2014.

A sample of the survey questionnaire was appended to the tender documents. It asked respondents for their employment status in the year before they started their private studies and six months after completing their last exams at the private school.

These schools were chosen as they had the largest student enrolment, the CPE said.

The MOE's higher education policy division awarded a tender worth $109,000 to research firm Forbes Research in October last year, to carry out an 18-week-long study on the 13,000 students who graduated from these schools in 2014.

A sample of the survey questionnaire was appended to the tender documents. It asked respondents for their employment status in the year before they started their private studies and six months after completing their last exams at the private school.

They were also asked for their basic and gross monthly salaries before and after getting their degrees.

One question asked the graduates if they wished they had not furthered their studies at a private institute. If they answered yes, they would be asked to select the reason from a list of options, such as their qualification being not as well recognised by employers when compared to those of public institutions, or that the career prospects and wages associated with the degree were below expectations.

There are more than 300 private schools in Singapore, with many offering diploma and degree programmes. These are attended by an estimated 77,000 Singaporeans and 29,000 foreigners. Students who do not make the cut at public universities often take a degree at these private institutes.

As part of the national SkillsFuture movement, the Government has been encouraging people not to focus on chasing a degree, but on acquiring specialised skills.

The polytechnics and autonomous universities are mandated by MOE to conduct a graduate employment survey each year.

Among those being surveyed is Mr Daniel Ng, 30, who got his first degree in logistics management from Kaplan here in 2014.

The former logistics specialist will soon take on a managerial role in another supply chain firm. The job, which requires candidates to possess at least a degree, comes with a salary increase of about 50 per cent.

The former Temasek Polytechnic student ,who started working seven years ago, said getting a degree has created "more opportunities".

He paid about $20,000 in all for his part-time degree and completed it in 18 months. "Having a degree makes a difference, especially when you are working in a multinational company. Degree holders start at a higher pay grade."

But Mr Ng knows he is luckier than his peers. "I have friends who also went for a degree, but it made no difference to their work. It's quite common and is partly why I didn't pursue a degree earlier."

Human resource expert David Leong, who runs PeopleWorldwide Consulting, said the survey is part of a long-term move to "align the different education pathways".

"There are many who quit their jobs to focus full-time on getting their first degree, but they realise after graduating that they are marked against fresh grads who are just 22 or 23 years old," he said, adding that in most cases, a private degree would translate to just a 5 to 10 per cent increase in pay for mid-career types.

"The Government is hoping to relook the ecosystem of higher learning. Private education institutes are a parallel track to the public universities for people to meet their aspirations, but upgraders must be given due recognition."

Private schools hold own surveys

Private schools, such as the Singapore Institute of Management (SIM), James Cook Australia Institute of Higher Learning (JCU) and the Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS), already conduct similar graduate employment surveys internally to track the development of their graduates.

These surveys also focus on whether the private schools' graduates found jobs within six months, and their salaries.

SIM has been conducting its own surveys since 2010 and the results are used for "internal monitoring and quality improvements". Its survey for the Class of 2014 noted that 73 per cent of its graduates had found full-time jobs within six months. It also reported an average gross monthly salary of $2,766 for graduates in full-time jobs.

MDIS did not provide the salary details of its graduates, but said that in 2014, about eight in 10 of its students had found full-time or part-time jobs six months after graduating.

At JCU, its survey of students who graduated at the end of 2013 and in 2014 found that more than seven in 10 were settled in jobs within six months. About half had salaries of between $2,001 and $3,000, and about 30 per cent made less than $2,000 a month.

These figures are lower than those of the autonomous universities, which conduct and publish their graduate employment surveys annually.

The National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University and Singapore Management University reported a consolidated gross mean salary of $3,333 a month for the Class of 2014.

More than eight in 10 of their 10,126 graduates surveyed found full-time jobs within six months of their last exam.

The Singapore Institute of Technology reported a gross mean monthly salary of $3,010. Almost 92 per cent of its graduates were employed within six months. Data for the Singapore University of Technology and Design is not available as its first batch of students graduated only last August.

leepearl@sph.com.sg

This article was first published on January 4, 2016 Get a copy of The Straits Times or go to straitstimes.com for more stories.